I am a big boy. I can do it myself.

These days, En wants to do many things himself. He wants to go to toilet by himself, open the door himself, take off his clothes and wear them again by himself. Rendering any form of assistance to him will meet with the following response: (1) Don't help me, I can do it myself, (2) He gets really upset and starts to break into the crying mode, or (3) He will insist he is a big boy and say, "I can do it myself".

Many experts on toddlers say this is the norm as they wish to exert their independence. Also, their motor skills and psychological development provide the basis for which they also wish to and are able to function more independently.

En likes to use the shoehorn to help his papa fit on his working shoes every morning. Recently, he has attempted to use the shoe horn to help himself put on his crocs too! It is quite a hilarious and also heartwarming sight! I believe he eats by himself in school (though not at home! hmmpphh!). There was one night, when I casually asked him if he could sleep by himself without me putting him to bed. I did not expect him to say, "Yes mama, I can". I was almost in tears (full of nostalgia that perhaps this would be my last time putting him to sleep) when I left the room and sat outside his room door, waiting for him to fall asleep. Alas, I was quite happy when he asked me to pat him to sleep after a good 5 min tossing on his bed! This is really a precious season in my child's life and I would not miss it for anything! Glad I can experience all these growing up milestones with En.

John the Baptist

En and I are reading Mark in the New Testament now. These few days, we will be reading about John the Baptist and his mission. Yesterday morning, En dressed up as John the Baptist, in his "camel hair" clothing and leather belt (daddy's soft cloth belt had to do it!). John ate locusts and wild honey. We pretended to eat some "locusts" (some of En's toys which did not look the least like locusts) and I gave En a tiny spoon of golden goodness (i.e., honey). He loved the honey. :)

I have read the story twice to En. He remembers well that Jesus said to John,

Baptise me." Hmm.. the challenging part for me is explaning baptism and what it represents. Currently, I have only gotten so far as to say that John dunked Jesus in the water and that baptism symbolises (even this is too big a word for En to understand) the washing away of our sins. For Jesus, it was necesary for him to be baptised to commence his earthly ministry. I don't think I will explain the last bit to En, maybe when he is a teenager.

Day out at the Park

We visited Labrador Park on the first day of the year. We met friends there, B and J, together with their cutie pie, S. Think the kids really enjoyed themselves, breathing in some fresh air and running around on the grass. I am glad we brought Yi out for some sunshine. He had a whale of a time crawling around on the picnic mat! He kept reaching for the grass and was never contented staying on the Ikea picnic mat full of animal pictures. Guess the grass looks greener on the other side! :P

En took his bike out and had loads of exercise pumping his right leg up and down. Yes, he effectively cycles with his right leg now. Hopefully, he will progress to normal cycling using the strength of both legs! He had his first experience of the hammock. Must say he was quite chill and laid there for some good 15 minutes!

First Day at School!

Today was En's first day at school! We were so excited for him. It really is a milestone in his life, which he probably would not remember. However, as parents, it meant a lot to us to see En don his school uniform and gear (i.e., schoolbag and waterbottle) and marching happily to his pre-nursery. The tears that welled up choked our throats as we watched our little boy enter his school today.

We had chosen to send him to a church-based kindergarten as we wanted him to be able to hear the gospel in a school setting from a young age. Not only hear, but also be given an opporunity to practice christian love as preached to him by his teachers. The first picture has him pointing excitedly at the picture of Jesus in a nativity scene on the kindergarten wall. The next picture shows En playing with a toy hand sanitiser, at the toy kitchen sink.

The kiddos did not do much today. They basically played three-quarters of the time, went to the toilet (must be quite memorable for En 'cos when asked what he did at school today, he just kept saying he went to the toilet and washed his hands!), sang some action songs. They also had snacks and my boy had a healthy three helpings of cereals!

Most of the kids were quite happy to be in the classroom and playing around, exploring their new environment. There were the expected bawls and crying from some kids. And of course, the parents like myself, were busy being papparazzi, snapping their cameras away crazily! I just pray En does not become the class bully and will be a loving boy who will share toys with his classmates. :)